As excited as I am for the new season, there are a couple of decisions that have been made in regards to it that I really don't agree with. The first is the decision to apparently re-use the old MMPR theme (albeit a remixed version) as the theme song for the new season, and the second is the decision to recycle the old 'hit Bulk in the face with stuff' gag. The problem I have with the re-use of the theme song is that, to me, it feels kind of lazy since the theme really has absolutely nothing whatsoever - aside from two changed lines - to do with the Samurai theme of the next season, and the problem I have with re-using the 'hit Bulk in the face with stuff' gag is because it reflects and is predicated upon an aspect of Bulk's characterization that hasn't been relevant to the character since the second season of MMPR, and it feels like it undermines in some ways all of the characterization evolutions the character went through over the years.

The problem I have with the re-use of the theme song is that, to me, it feels kind of lazy since the theme really has absolutely nothing whatsoever - aside from two changed lines - to do with the Samurai theme of the next season, ...

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The song also had nothing whatsoever to do with the changing themes of MMPR.
Having a generic (and well known!) theme that can be reused with minor tweaks for future seasons is not a bad thing. The MMPR theme still makes people turn their heads, it was even used in Guitar Heroes, it's smart to use it, it will get Power Rangers Samurai attention.

I hope the nephew is Skull's and Kimberly's son, they had a lot of chemistry and that they got married has been fanon for years and almost became canon in Wild Force.

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Eww! This is why I avoid fanfic...

Besides, if Spike is literally Bulk's nephew, then he'd have to be the offspring of one of Bulk's siblings. Neither Eugene Skullovitch nor Kimberly Hart has any biological relationship to Farkas Bulkmeier. Perhaps Skull married Bulk's sister?

As excited as I am for the new season, there are a couple of decisions that have been made in regards to it that I really don't agree with. The first is the decision to apparently re-use the old MMPR theme (albeit a remixed version) as the theme song for the new season, and the second is the decision to recycle the old 'hit Bulk in the face with stuff' gag. The problem I have with the re-use of the theme song is that, to me, it feels kind of lazy since the theme really has absolutely nothing whatsoever - aside from two changed lines - to do with the Samurai theme of the next season, and the problem I have with re-using the 'hit Bulk in the face with stuff' gag is because it reflects and is predicated upon an aspect of Bulk's characterization that hasn't been relevant to the character since the second season of MMPR, and it feels like it undermines in some ways all of the characterization evolutions the character went through over the years.

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I agree about the theme song, and I tend to agree about Bulk. Still, slapstick remained a part of Bulk & Skull's act throughout their tenure, to some extent at least. There's room for it if used judiciously. However, what I've seen of this show so far doesn't give me any hope that the humor will have any intelligence, nuance, or quality to it.

I don't understand what the appeal of this content is to an adult? That's not snark, I honestly don't understand why an adult would get from that scene?

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Why ask the question? Power Rangers has always been a kids' show first and foremost. Some of its seasons have had qualities that appealed to adults -- sometimes in the writing and stories, sometimes merely in the sex appeal of the cast -- but it's always been targeted primarily at young viewers.

For myself, I was never that fond of the slapstick aspects of Bulk & Skull -- I hated them in the first season -- but I came to appreciate the comic rapport of the actors once they got better material in subsequent seasons. So for me, the only appeal of that scene is nostalgia, getting to see Paul Schrier back in action. Overall, though, I've seen nothing else about Samurai that makes me think I'll like it much.

The problem I have with the re-use of the theme song is that, to me, it feels kind of lazy since the theme really has absolutely nothing whatsoever - aside from two changed lines - to do with the Samurai theme of the next season

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It's becoming clear that this season is trying to spark some nostalgia(bulk, remixed theme)

Power Ranger's is on it's third life cycle now and giving nod to the past might re-energize it.

Which makes me think Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger will be gold to Saban. All the nod's to the past and ranger's fighting along side each other. You can't past that up.

^The problem for me is, they're embracing nostalgia for the worst seasons of Power Rangers. MMPR was a really, really bad show in its first season; the only good thing about it was the cast. It got better in seasons 2 and 3, but it was still well below the quality of later seasons.

I can understand them embracing nostalgia for the most famous and popular incarnation of the franchise, but it's always sad when popularity and quality are two different things. And it's frustrating. With RPM, the franchise reached a new level of maturity. Not only was it smarter, richer, and better-written than ever before, but funnier than ever before as well. And now it looks like they're trying to undo all that maturation and revert to the franchise's infancy.

I dunno, maybe that's a sound strategy for hooking a new generation of young viewers who will sustain the franchise for another 20 years as they grow up with it. But for adult fans like me, it's a disappointment.

I concur with what Christopher said; I'm fine with embracing nostalgia, but Saban seems to be doing it in ways that are, to me at least, borderline uncreative and lazy. There are a myriad of different ways that they could embrace the nostalgia of the franchise that don't involve blatantly re-using the MMPR theme instead of recording a completely new theme and introducing elements of the original MMPR theme into said new theme the way they have in the past, and that don't involve re-using an element of a particular character's characterization that is completely and explicitely linked to a certain period of said character's characterization. I said this in another thread on another board, but there are ways to use Bulk as a 'physical comedy' character that don't involve partially reverting him back to the way he was characterized in the first season of MMPR.

Power Rangers Dino Thunder, a season that I don't particularly like all that much because of some issues I have with regards to the continuity of the franchise, embraced the nostalgia concept wholeheartedly, but did it in a way that wasn't so borderline lazy and uncreative; I also maintain that the writers embraced nostalgia with regards to Ninja Storm, taking the franchise back to its early MMPR roots but without undermining anything that had accomplished in terms of the increasing sophistication of the franchise's writing and storytelling that had occurred up to the time that NS premiered. I've made this assertion many times before, but nearly every single character and situation within NS has an analogue or parallel - or multiple analogues or parallels - that can be found and drawn between it and MMPR, coupled with the lessons that had been learned from Zeo through Wild Force in terms of how to tell a compelling, coherent, and consistent story arc instead of just living 'episode to episode'.

I don't think Bulk as seen here is quite as bad as he was in MMPR season 1. There, he and Skull were just bullies who showed up to make trouble and had it backfire messily on them, week after week after week. That was boring and pointless. What made Bulk and Skull interesting in later seasons was that they acquired a purpose, a goal that was more focused, engaging, and sympathetic than just being troublemakers. In season 2, that purpose was finding out who the Power Rangers were, while in season 3 and Zeo, it was being cops/detectives (and adding Lt. Stone as the Sgt. Carter to their Gomers Pyle helped improve the comedy as well).

Here, Bulk seems to have a purpose: to open and run a dojo, to be a sensei. That seems to tie into the focus of the season as a whole. Sure, he's a klutz about it and got splattered in the face like his high-school self, but maybe that was just a one-time thing for nostalgia. It wasn't "he's being mean and it backfires," it was more that he's trying to do something useful and is just clumsy about it.

Anyway, do we know if this is a recurring/regular role for Bulk, or just a one-shot?

Christopher, answering your question, Schrier is signed on to be a recurring cast member.

Regarding Bulk and the issues I have with them re-using the 'hit Bulk in the face with stuff' gag, it's not so much that his characterization itself has been reverted, but that they've chosen to use a gag that is explicitely linked in with a particular point in his characterization, which sort of serves to undermine the characterization evolution he'd underwent in MMPR Season 3 and beyond, since, as time went on, we saw less and less evidence of him actually being portrayed as clumsy.

Christopher, answering your question, Schrier is signed on to be a recurring cast member.

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Thanks.

Regarding Bulk and the issues I have with them re-using the 'hit Bulk in the face with stuff' gag, it's not so much that his characterization itself has been reverted, but that they've chosen to use a gag that is explicitely linked in with a particular point in his characterization, which sort of serves to undermine the characterization evolution he'd underwent in MMPR Season 3 and beyond, since, as time went on, we saw less and less evidence of him actually being portrayed as clumsy.

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Point taken. However, as I said, maybe this single gag was just a one-time thing for nostalgia, rather than something that will be done every time Bulk shows up. I wouldn't bet on it, given my low expectations for this show, but we can at least hope.

^ I wouldn't count on it either; I'm glad, however, that there's at least one person out there who shares my sentiments and agrees with them, as opposed to a bunch of people on another board telling me I'm 'being silly' because of my argument, concerns, and disappointments in this regard.

^ I wouldn't count on it either; I'm glad, however, that there's at least one person out there who shares my sentiments and agrees with them, as opposed to a bunch of people on another board telling me I'm 'being silly' because of my argument, concerns, and disappointments in this regard.

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If you have to bring up the argument on rangerboard here, at least admit that they only started telling you you'e being silly, after you pretty much said "I write stories in my free time, that's why I'm an expert and you're wrong".

^ I wouldn't count on it either; I'm glad, however, that there's at least one person out there who shares my sentiments and agrees with them, as opposed to a bunch of people on another board telling me I'm 'being silly' because of my argument, concerns, and disappointments in this regard.

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If you have to bring up the argument on rangerboard here, at least admit that they only started telling you you'e being silly, after you pretty much said "I write stories in my free time, that's why I'm an expert and you're wrong".

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Takeru, I didn't mean for my comments to be taken the way they were, and apologized for offending anyone with said comments, and yet still received the following reply:

You're not offending anyone. You're just being silly. We all like to philosophize about our favorite kids' show from time to time but you're taking it to the point of stupidity.

Don't compare Bulk to Tommy. There are not on the same level. Bulk had one transition and one transition only to make in Power Rangers. He went from a mean bumbler to a nice bumbler. Once that was fully established his character grown was DONE and that's a good thing. Some characters are actually meant to remain static as a way to better illustrate those around them. His exploits during "King for a Day" and "Countdown to Destruction" were merely meant to further show off just how good he and Skull had become.

He's not going to lose any character growth just because he gets hit by things. That has always and will always be a part of who he is. It's just that in later seasons they relied on it less. Hell, in later season they relied on Bulk and Skull less in general.

But hey, if the same wacky comedy that we've always gotten suddenly offends your writer's eye now then by all means it's your right to feel insulting. I can hear your monocle popping off in horror as I type this.

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I brought up the fact that I write in my spare time as a way to give my argument some additional substance since people seemed to be rejecting it out of hand, and ended up being criticized for coming across as arrogant; when I apologized and said that I didn't mean to offend people, I got told that I'm being silly and that my argument has no merit. It's one thing to criticize me for comments that came across as being arrogant even though that was not the intent at all, and quite another to say that I'm silly and borderline stupid for thinking the way that I do, especially after I apologized for the comments I had made that people had perceived as arrogant.